Thermal coal: Abundance
The biggest fossil stock by far, and then some
What this tab covers How much of this energy there is: the natural flow or stock, the share that could be harnessed, and how much is used today, compared with world primary energy use (592 EJ in 2024).Coal is the largest fossil stock: proven reserves are roughly 36 years of all world energy use, and the wider resource is hundreds of times larger.
A stock: finite on human time scalesHow much there is
| Measure | Value | Compared with world energy use | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proven reserves (hard coal plus lignite) | 1,074 billion tonnes (end-2020)3 | Energy Institute data as reported by Natural Resources Canada; 2020 is the latest year published. Reserves-to-production ratio about 120 years (1,074 Gt divided by 8.8 Gt in 2024, calculated; the reserve and production years differ). | |
| Reserves in energy terms (BGR) | 21,374 (hard coal 17,820 plus lignite 3,554) EJ (end-2016)4 | about 36 times world primary energy use (calculated) | 729 billion tonnes of coal equivalent; coal is 54.1% of 39,530 EJ of non-renewable energy reserves. BGR's later editions were not accessible for checking. |
| Total resources (hard coal 14,966 plus lignite 1,776) | 16,742 billion tonnes of coal equivalent (end-2016)4 | about 490,700 EJ (BGR), over 800 times world primary energy use (calculated) | Resources are known or inferred deposits not yet economic to mine. |
| World coal production | 8.8 to 9.1 billion tonnes (2024)3 | Natural Resources Canada gives 8,821 Mt; the IEA gives a record 9.1 Gt. The gap is mainly how Chinese raw coal is counted (4,403 versus 4,666 Mt). | |
| Of which thermal coal and lignite | 7,687 million tonnes (2024, preliminary)3 | The rest, 1,134 Mt, is metallurgical coal. | |
| World coal use in energy terms | 165 EJ (2024)5 | about 28% of the 592 EJ world total energy supply | A record level of coal use. |
Against the baseline of 592 EJ of world primary energy in 2024 (Energy Institute Statistical Review 2025), coal supplied 165 EJ, a little over a quarter. Proven reserves, those that are mapped and economic at today's prices and technology, would last about 120 years at the current rate of extraction, and in energy terms equal about 36 years of all world energy use (BGR basis). The far larger resource base means that geology is not what will limit coal use. Cost, local pollution and above all the carbon budget are.
Reserve figures for coal are revised rarely and unevenly. Several countries have not updated theirs for decades, and no global compilation has been published since end-2020, so the totals are best read as orders of magnitude.
Sources
- Coal facts (world reserves from the Energy Institute Statistical Review, production from the IEA) Natural Resources Canada, 2026
- Energy Study 2017: Data and Developments Concerning German and Global Energy Supplies (Table 2, reserves and resources at end-2016) BGR (German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources), 2017
- Statistical Review of World Energy 2025 (74th edition) Energy Institute, 2025